Last week we had our first major snowfall. Fortunately milder weather and plenty of rain quickly melted the white stuff away. But rain or snow, our flocks of Canada geese are not flying south anymore and are tough enough to endure the winter. Here is a video that I composed from recent captures and from clips stored in my archive. I am using Filmora X now and found it a lot easier to use than VideoPad. Enjoy.
Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis. This Latin adage, meaning “Times are changing, and we are changing with them,” rings especially true when examining cultural norms for human behaviour. When Papa was a police officer before and during the war, his elevated status in society did not allow him to have his wife working. A man of his rank was supposed to feed his wife and family. Now having been a former officer of the German army, he could not hope to find employment as a police officer in the Soviet-occupied province of Thuringia. Fortunately, he eventually found work as a dental technician at a friend’s dentistry lab. All of a sudden, the honour code of the former police force no longer applied, and his wife Elisabeth was working for a Russian officer who needed help to keep his rather large household organized and running well. For a few hours every day, Elisabeth Panknin had to do housework for him in exchange for a modest wage and some precious victuals from the kitchen.
One day when she reported for work, the whole household of the commander was in disarray and upheaval. The commander had lost his precious ring. An extensive search by all the members of the home had been unsuccessful. The ring was not found. Finally, mother Panknin was accused of having stolen it. The commander told her that she had to return the precious object by the following day or face dire consequences. Elisabeth was scared to death. She had seen and admired the ring but had no idea where it was. She spent the night in agony, not knowing what to do. Finally, after many prayers, she decided to offer the commander all her jewellery the next day to prove her innocence.
The following morning, weak with fear and apprehension, she arrived at her workplace. She was immediately sent to the commander’s office, who was holding out his hand when she entered. Frau Panknin could not believe her eyes when she saw the precious ring sparkling on his finger. In his broken German, the commander explained how he had found the ring. When he was getting dressed that morning, he had felt a small object in the lining of his jacket. On further investigation, it felt like his lost ring. He suddenly remembered that he had put it in his jacket pocket for some reason Frau Panknin could not understand. His coat pocket had a small tear in the seam, and the ring had slipped through it into the silk lining. That the ring was found in the nick of time to save my mother-in-law from dire consequences was another miracle. From that day on, the commander rewarded her more generously for her work.
Today I was going to publish a few more pictures from our recent walk to the Fauquier boat dock. Some snow had fallen and stayed to create a wintery scene. But in the meantime, I caught two chickadees feasting on the sunflower seeds they had picked up at our bird feeders. So here is the video I created with some cheerful dinner music. Enjoy.
We call the onslaught of one storm after another sweeping in from the wild Pacific the Hawaiian express. The rainfalls were at times so severe that several towns have been put under evacuation alert or even evacuation orders. On Monday many of the major highways in our province have been blocked by terrible landslides. So far here at the Arrow Lakes, we have experienced more moderate weather but we had to stay indoors as it was raining most of the time. When the rain finally let up for a few hours, my wife and I went to the golf course and visited our creek which provides the drinking water for our little community. Here is a glimpse of this short but joyful moment. Enjoy.
Brilliant sunshine greeted us at the start of a usual gray and foggy November day. Foul and colder weather was in the forecast. So my wife and I hurried to make good use of such a rare opportunity at this time of the year. Unfortunately by the time we reached our destination, ominous clouds had rolled in and covered the sky. To our great delight, most trees were still showing off their autumn colours. So despite the dark sky, we had a leisurely photo session down at the local golf course. Enjoy.
The arrival of fall in the Arrow Lakes region of BC is little behind schedule this year. Yes, the maple and poplar trees show their spectacular colours, but the larches are holding back as if they are not yet ready to face the long winter. Also, we did not have any real night frost yet in our area, which is sometimes – tongue in cheek – referred to as the banana belt of the Kootenays. A good hard frost always sets the spectacular colour wheel of autumn splendour in motion. Here are a few photos giving you a glimpse of fall at the Arrow Lakes. Enjoy.
The Peter and Gertrud Klopp Family 